Glass Quartz Sand Research Articles

Геохимические и типологические особенности детритовых цирконов сосновской толщи палеогена (Русская плита)

The Paleogene Sosnov Formation is represented by glass quartz sands which are widely occurred in the eastern part of the Russian Platform. Interest in Paleogene quartz sands in Russia is increasing due to the growing needs of the glass industry. But by now, the mineral resource base of glass raw materials in the European part of Russia is of almost complete exhaustion. In recent years, the comprehensive study using modern mineralogical and geochemical methods is undertaken resulting in substantiation of the injecting mechanism of formation of Sosnov quartz sands. The current paper presents the results of the study of morphologic and geochemical features of detrital zircons extracted from the sands of the Paleogene Sosnov Formation and the Bathonian Lukoyanov Formation. The latest can be proposed as a source layer for the Paleogene sand injectites. It has been determined that zircons from both strata are of the same Pupin`s morphological types and regarded to be originated from predominantly intermediate, mafic, and rarely felsic rocks. The Puchezh-Katunk endogenous structure is suggested to be the most probable source area. The assumption that the Bathonian Lukoyanov sandstones are the most probable source for the injection of the Paleogene sands is confirmed.

Development of a Technological Complex for Washing Sand

A technological complex was developed in order to remove clay minerals, iron oxide, and fractions heavier than 2.9 tons/m3 from glass quartz sands. The basis of the scheme of the apparatus chain of the complex consists of a trammel screen with a new design, jigs, and concentration tables with electromagnetic inductors. It was shown under laboratory conditions that sand in the highest demand — VS-030-V grade — was obtained from sands containing (by weight): 97.32% SiO2, 0.92% Al2O3, 0.43% Fe2O3, 0.11% TiO2, and 0.04% Cr2O3. A distinguishing feature of the technological scheme of gravity separation of sands is the counterflow motion of the initial feed and the heavy fraction.

Development and Investigation of an Apparatus for Determining the Wetting of Quartz Sand

An apparatus for determining the wettability of quartz sand was developed. It was shown that as the temperature increases, the surface wettability of the minerals present in the glass quartz sand increases owing to a reduction of the slippage of the liquid along the solid surface and, in consequence, the aggregative stability of their suspensions increases.

Removal of Iron Minerals from Glass Quartz Sand by Flotation

Flotation by a vapor-air mixture in a ‘two streams’ scheme was used to de-iron unconditioned sands with 0.34 wt.% Fe2O3: the foam product of the flotation stream I is separated from 1/2 of the sands and mixed with the other 1/2 of the sands by flotation stream II. A distinguishing feature of flotation stream II is that a mixture of air with hot (> 100°C) water vapor is used as the gas phase, which yields VS-030-V grade sand. The consumption of the warming vapor in the vapor-air flotation technology equals 9.7 × 10-4 Gcal/ton of sand.

Use of a mechanically dispersed mixture SiO2 + Se as a colorant for obtaining tinted GLASS

A selenium-based colorant obtained by transferring it into micro- and nanostates by mechanical dispersion using the main component of the glass—quartz sand—as the stabilizing matrix is studied. It is determined that with mechanical dispersion of SiO2+ Se mixtures not only does comminution occur but a transition of selenium into other polymorphic modifications could also occur, while the observation of an increase of the color intensity of the glasses synthesized on their basis is most likely due to the stabilization of selenium particles in low-dimension voids of the quartz glass. It has been found that a black heterogeneous mixture SiO2 + Se is characterized by high volatility and simultaneously the highest tinting power.